Busch Title Spells Freedom For 1988 Champion

For Tom Sieckmann, winning the 1988 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic meant much: his first PGA Tour victory, his biggest payday, his best money-earning season.

Most importantly for Sieckmann, it meant freedom.

"It meant I could do a lot of things that I wanted to do," Sieckmann said recently. "It meant I could pick and choose tournaments, be a little more selective and play courses I'd like to play.

"Those kind of advantages are pretty important to me," he said.

The 34-year-old Sieckmann had by far his best year on the tour in 1988. After defeating Mark Wiebe on the second hole of a playoff here, he finished 54th on the money list with more than $209,000. He had two other top-10 finishes - a tie for fourth at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and a tie for ninth at the Hardee's Classic the week after Kingsmill.

The money he earned last year, and the accompanying exemptions, allowed him to put together a charity pro-am in his hometown of Omaha, Neb.

Organizing the charity pro-am - a one-day event that was held July 3 - involved a lot more work than even Sieckmann realized. He made numerous trips from Dallas, his home the last four years, back to Omaha.

"It's taken up a lot of time," Sieckmann said. "It's probably taken up some practice time, too, where I could have been working on my game.

"But this is something I've wanted to do," he said. "It's mostly for underprivileged kids - latchkey kids who are coming home to empty houses or don't have parents to come home to. There aren't any big charities involved. It was important to me to do this."

Sieckmann's fiancee, Debbie Tlustos, said, "He knows he's not going to be able to play golf forever, so he wants to get involved in other types of things - investments, starting this pro-am - so he can relax a little bit and concentrate on his golf."

Sieckmann arrives at Kingsmill in much the same situation that he did a year ago. During one stretch last year before the A-B, he missed a dozen consecutive cuts.

This year he has missed 13 of 20 cuts and has earned just $49,611. His best finishes are a tie for 16th in the MONY Tournament of Champions in early January, and a tie for 15th at the Greater Greensboro Open in mid-April.

"It's been a little bit of a disappointing season so far," Sieckmann said. "I feel like I'm a better player than I was last season.

"But it's been a struggle putting most of the year. One week I'd have trouble driving, the next week pitching. It's been a year of not being able to put things together."

Sieckmann's week at the U.S. Open in Rochester, N.Y., last month illustrates his year. He led after the first round with a 64, then his scores climbed steadily. His Open line read: 64-70-79-80. From first-day leader to finishing 61st.

"The pro-am has taken some time," Sieckmann said. "Plus, the weather has been terrible almost everywhere I've gone, so I haven't had a chance to really work on my game.

"It seems like it's rained everywhere I've played, so practice rounds get cancelled and pro-ams get cancelled, and you wind up just going out there and teeing it up in the tournament.

"For me golf is a game of repetition, not spectacular moments, and I haven't been able to get the number of repetitions so far this season."

Sieckmann, a lanky 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, is one of the longer hitters on the tour. He has taken time to work with David Ledbetter, a swing consultant for a number of pros. He has also consulted with data-oriented putting guru Dave Pelz, who helped him last year before the Anheuser-Busch Classic when he was in a miserable putting slump.

"Last year was kind of a surprise," he said. "This year I honestly feel like I'm a better player.

"I feel confident that I can put together a good second half of the season and I'm really looking forward to coming back and defending at Kingsmill."

Before last year Sieckmann was best known for his play abroad, winning tournaments in Asia, South America and Europe. He also has played well at the PGA Qualifying tournament, the bane of many of today's pros. He finished tied for second there in the Fall of 1984, and was the medalist in the Fall of '85.

"He knows he can win," Tlustos said. "He just has to be patient. He won here, plus he's won so many tournaments overseas.

"He generally keeps a positive attitude," she said. "I'll watch him shoot 79 one day, but he's not playing that badly and he knows it."

Said Sieckmann, "It's like the weather. If enough conditions conspire, it's going to rain. If you do enough things well enough on the golf course, good things are going to happen."